How Rory McIlroy embarrassingly lost in one of his last rounds at Seminole Golf Club

He took his putter back, struck his golf ball and helplessly watched as it rolled off the fifth green. 

It didn’t get much better from there for him and his partner just over a week ago. They didn’t “make the fence” at Seminole Golf Club in Florida, an expression there that means your match woefully didn’t make the fence of the driving range, near the 15th green. And their opponents wanted to remind them of it. They took a photo by the fence. 

Rory McIlroy and Tom Brady had lost. Justin Thomas and Jimmy Dunne had won. Snap the picture. 

“It was nothing really beating those two guys. It’s not that big of deal. I don’t view it as a major, Dunne, Seminole’s president, joked this past week on ESPN’s Stupodity podcast. 

“They didn’t get to the fence. … It’s more humiliation so you got to pay double. So we particularly enjoyed that. … They took it like men, though. They got their a– beat. It was fine.”

That’s Rory McIlroy, four-time major winner. That’s Rory McIlroy, the world’s top-ranked golfer. Getting dropped with Brady, the NFL great who will play his own charity golf event next week, by Dunne and Thomas, also one of the best in golf. 

That’s also Rory McIlroy, who will team up with Dustin Johnson to take on Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolff in the TaylorMade Driving Relief skins game on Sunday. 

Back at Seminole. 

“When I’m putting it off the greens, it’s hard to win,” McIlroy said on the podcast.

It’s not without reason. McIlroy has not all of a sudden lost his touch. He’s putted on greens all around the world. Seminole’s are the fastest.

“Like faster than the weekend at Augusta,” McIlroy said on the podcast.  

“There’s been a bit of rain here the past couple days, and hopefully the course firms up again because – there’s a lot of room off the tee and stuff, and it’s not the most demanding course tee to green, but then once you get around the greens, it’s as tough as they come.”

The fifth green, along with the 17 others at Seminole, will still be there for the skins game. McIlroy remains undaunted. 

He was asked how many skins he and Johnson would win.

Put them down for 12. Two-thirds. 

“DJ and I play well, I think we’ll get them,” he said.        

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Nick Piastowski

Golf.com Editor

Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to him about any of these topics — his stories, his game or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.

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